Jordan Watch
An update and analysis of the progress, or lack of it in political, economic, social and cultural reform in Jordan.

Ministers' phones bugged?
Monday, July 30, 2007

According to a report by Al Arab Al Yawm newspaper, Jordanian Prime Minister Ma'rouf Bakhit had a stunning revelation in last evening's Cabinet meeting. The outraged PM accused some ministers of "providing journalists with information about the activities of the government and its other ministers through the political salons in which ministers and journalists interact. He added that he has "recordings" of phone calls between ministers and journalists about issues related to the government".
For the public this is an amazing fact. To have the phones of ministers monitored and bugged is an indication of lack of trust. To the best of my knowledge this practice is occuring for a long time. Ministers' phones are monitored but rarely an action is being taken or even the issue discussed between the government officials.
What made the issue more crucial is that many ministers in the cabinet have the strange tendency of attacking the government from within as they are friends and allies to previous Prime Ministers and political elite forces in the country and have a vested interest in destablizing the governemnt. This is the rotten system of the so called political elites in Jordan.
Personally I see no problem in monitoring the phones of ministers but not ordinary citizens or journalists. Ministers are public figures and take decisions that are vital to the country and a sense of monitoring should be done. Is this against human rights? Absolutely!
Then why do I support this? for the one simple and naive assumption that if a corruption case is discovered such recordings may end up to be useful in providing evidence of corruption and bad decisions for accountability.
However I think this has never been done in the past. No minister has been charged with corruption and misconduct and had his phone records used in getting evidence.
The only case of corruption in Jordan that was brought to court was the Shamailey gate. I clearly remember in one session that the accusation provided evidence against former GID head Samih Battikhi based on "phone recordings" between Battikhi and Shamaileh. Imagine this, the phone of the head of the GID was being monitored and for a good cause!
In real life however ministers do know that their phones are bugged and will not engage themselves in 'controversial" discussions and deals using their own phones. Such discussion usually may take place in personal contacts with no evidence.
Another argument comes in: If you bug the ministers' phones taht means you do not trust them so why use them in the first place? convincing argument but I still can put the issue in the form of alternatives:
What is better:
1- To monitor a minister's phone to stop any cases of misconduct and corruption.
2- To leave the ministers free with no recording.
I personally prefer the first option but what is happening now is that the phones of minsiters can be monitored for intimidation and not stopping corruption. The issue here is how to use the information gained from the monitoring which should be in the best interest of the country and its people. In the end a minister should be accountable to the king and to the people also.
 
 

posted by Batir Wardam in Democracy in Jordan, Human Rights, Political Reform @ 7:51 PM

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(7) comments


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On July, 31, 2007 12:32 AM , Bint al Badyah
from Egypt said:

Batir, I read the logic in your argument. My only concern is that once you open this door you can never close it. First: Where do you draw the line? The PM will bug the ministers, but does this give the ministers the right to bug those under them? Second: what kind of example will this set? Will this mean that the Head of parliament will bug parliamentarians, the chief judge will bug other judges and the intelligence will bug every single human being. The constitution of Jordan sets the grounds for accountability, rule of law, and checks and balances, and therefore there is no need for this extreme and unnecessary measure.

On July, 31, 2007 1:32 AM , batir
from Jordan said:

Bint Al Badiya I think you are right. Thanks for the comment.

On July, 31, 2007 2:22 AM , Metry
from Jordan said:

When i read this post and the reminder that the phone of the head of the JID was bugged, my first inclination was to google " bugging high ranking officials company in Jordan". One would imagine that tender were invited for companies to provide such service. It must be non-Jordanians though and they would have to think twice before submitting the tapes? wher do we hand the tapes this time? the PM? The head of the GID? Maybe, all of us obedient citizens, try to refrain from commenting or even bothering for a while (stack up on water and some really long lasting canned food) and let them do it alone, bug(ger) each each, do all what they like with the country's water, american aid, olive oil, and even the sheeps(including the 17 killed in Al Urdon Street). I am sure they will get sick of it and try the normal ordinary proven way of descency for a change

On July, 31, 2007 9:21 AM , Alurdunialhurr
from United States said:

Batir,,You are not a scial democrats,you are for directorship and despotic rules,you are advocating what Hitler and Mussolini have done to their people ,just look what happened to people that utilised this nasty, unconstitutional ,illegal and out right crime against our people,it is pathetic post and commentary on you behalf to try to promote despotism and dictatorship.

On July, 31, 2007 9:40 AM , Isam
from United Kingdom said:

For a start, I am agianst Eavsdropping in any sort.

But I want to ask a question : How did you understand that the Ministers phones are bugged ? It could have been the journalists who recorded the phone calls and gave them to the Prime Minister.

In my presonal opinion, I don't think that it was recorded by the government without legal permission. Think of Two-faced Journalists.

On August, 02, 2007 7:43 AM , zaid matela
from United States said:

i would like to agree with isam.i don't think the pm naive to call a shot at him slef.

On August, 14, 2007 10:04 PM , Hani Obaid
from Jordan said:

I'd hardly consider it news that the ministers phones are bugged, but what is interesting is that the PM objects to ministers discussing the Government with journalists. What else are they supposed to discuss, fotball stats ?

Your argument that having the record to go back to in case of corruption only holds up if the recording are monitored with an eye for eliminating corruption rather than achieving political gain.



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